performer/composer relations
Between composer and performer of contemporary music exists a balance I've always found interesting. Their (our) symbiotic relationship is essential and complex, completely reliant on both an understanding of the outlying goal, and on the inherent misunderstanding found in all forms of communication between humans. Without a common musical goal, the relationship would be weighed heavily in favor of both members, a mathematical impossibility for success. Both performer and composer would take the composition as a static, nonliving being, a product achieved in one- and only one- possible process. Without the inherent misunderstanding between performer and composer, thousands of possibilities might lie unexplored, any one of these holding the potential for breaking out of the human mentality and creating a completely new and original work of art. In other words, without this misunderstanding, the road leads once again to the creation of static non-life.
To achieve success in a musical work, performer and composer must contribute equal parts. Many artists from each category never attain satisfaction in their careers due to an incomplete understanding of this symbiotic relationship. Unfortunately, as in most meaningful aspects of life, there is no formula to finding happiness in this collaboration. A composer's needs are as varied and confusing as the human psyche, and this is no less true of the performer. I am fortunate enough to work primarily with composers to whom I feel a strong and happy bond. Their music allows me to express myself without constraint, in fact liberating my musical speech by establishing limitations or formulas which resonate with my artistic vocabulary. In performing these works, I am (ideally) creating a musical product as true to myself and the composer as to the energy of art itself (to pose a complete abstraction).
To illustrate a contrasting example- in the past, I have performed a great deal of music by composers whose work fails to resonate with my artistic being. These compositions affect my language in the opposite way- I am entrapped, tied to the notes on the page, and incapable of musical expression. In these situations, I feel the artistic product is shortchanged- the result is not a collaboration of performer and composer, but is wholly a product of the written music. I am merely an inefficient medium. Were these composition presented in a different situation (with a different performer), they might blossom into truly awesome artistic products; however, without the vital symbiotic relationship at work, they will simply fail and disappear.
Frequently both composers and performers tend to forget, or lost sight of, the reality that creating a balanced musical work in this manner (composer writes, performer plays) is a collaboration. To fulfill the potential of any composition, composer and performer must openly discuss musical and technical issues, and to do so must trust the other implicitly (artistically) to be open-minded, and even willing to fail (in the short term) to allow success (in the long term). This philosophy has led me over the years to seriously consider the issue of trust, and of the divide between personal and professional relationships.
The barrier between personal and professional situations is essential to the development of Art, but is also completely fictional. Those we trust professionally tend to be those we trust personally, and personal relationships affect our professional lives, whether we like it or not. In fact, these very conflicts shape our performances and compositions, bringing into the mix a whole new batch of possibilities that may have never been conceived without extraneous issues. These complexities also place limitations on our performances and compositions, a necessary element to organizing sound in chaos (composing).
If, as artists, we truly believe that the works we create are products of our time, experience, and self (as I do), I don't think we can really divide any aspect of life from our work. We need to dive wholeheartedly into the art of collaboration, hoping to succeed or at least learn enough from the process that eventually the music that emerges is true.